Author: Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: April 19, 2003
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/19guj1.htm
Mohammed Asghar Ali, prime accused
in the March 26 murder of former Gujarat minister of state for home Haren
Pandya, committed the offence to avenge the massacre of Muslims during
the Gujarat riots of 2002, the Andhra Pradesh police have claimed.
They say Ali and his gang also attempted,
unsuccessfully, to murder another Bharatiya Janata Party politician in
Gujarat.
According to police records in Andhra
Pradesh, Ali is a habitual offender with a string of cases registered against
him.
The son of a retired police sub-inspector,
Ali's tryst with crime began with a petty offence in his home town Nalgonda
in 1991. Later, he joined a gang led by Fasiuddin which took to attacking
karsevaks from the state who had participated in the demolition of the
Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992. One of the largest contingents
of karsevaks had come from Andhra Pradesh.
When police shot Fasiuddin dead
in an encounter in 1993, Ali allegedly vowed to avenge his mentor.
Police say he engineered the escape
of notorious communal offender Mirza Fayaz Baig from the Nampally criminal
courts in the state capital Hyderabad in December 1996.
Baig was involved in the killing
of BJP corporator Nandraj Goud, who had also participated in the kar seva
in Ayodhya. He was subsequently shot dead in an encounter with the security
forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ali and another accomplice were
found to possess two revolvers at Mungode in Nalgonda district in 1997.
He was also allegedly party to a series of bomb blasts perpetrated by Azam
Ghori, an agent of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, in the state
in 2000. Ali was also found to possess explosives, including the deadly
RDX, at Dabeerpura in Hyderabad in 2000.
After jumping bail two years ago,
Ali secured two fake passports from Kerala and Maharashtra and went to
Dubai where he is believed to have got in touch with ISI operatives. In
October 2002, he even went to Pakistan for special training in subversive
activities, police claimed.
Ali is also believed to have lived
in the Kashmir valley for some time in the 1990s where he committed several
crimes with the help of ISI associates. He reportedly underwent training
in handling arms and explosives during his stay there and developed close
ties with ISI-sponsored terrorist outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and
Hizbul Mujahideen.
The police say that after his return
from Dubai about six weeks ago, Ali reportedly got in touch with Iftekhar,
an old accomplice. They roped in another close friend from Nalgonda, Mohammed
Abdul Bari, and went to Ahmedabad, where they planned the crime meticulously.
They studied Pandya's movements and worked out every detail. According
to the police, Ali fired the shots that killed Pandya.
According to the Andhra police,
following is the full list of 13 criminal cases in which Ali was involved:
* First information report number
161/91 under sections 448 (house trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation)
of the Indian Penal Code at Nalgonda II town police station; Asghar Ali
and G Venkanna allegedly entered a school and threatened to kill a person
in a petty quarrel on November 27, 1991; Ali was arrested the next day;
* FIR #78/92 under sections 324
(causing hurt with dangerous weapons), 506 and 36 of the IPC at Nalgonda
II town police station; Ali and four others allegedly beat up a leader
of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, student wing of the BJP, threatened
to kill him, and asked him not to conduct ABVP activities in the area.
This incident took place on August 11, 1992; Ali was arrested on September
1, 1992;
* FIR #90/94 under section 393 (attempted
robbery) of the IPC at Nalgonda I town police station; Ali and two others
allegedly snatched a cash bag containing Rs 6,000 from a passer-by on September
10, 1994; Ali surrendered on April 26, 1995;
* FIR #99/94 under section 397 (robbery
with attempt to cause hurt) of the IPC at Nalgonda I town police station;
Ali and two others allegedly snatched a cash bag containing Rs 7,500 from
a passer- by on October 4, 1994; Ali surrendered on April 26, 1995;
* FIR #121/95 under section 307
(attempted murder) of the IPC and section 25 of the Indian Arms Act at
Nalgonda II town police station; Ali and six others allegedly attacked
a person with a pistol and injured him on December 17, 1995; Ali was arrested
on January 21, 1997;
* FIR #114/96 under section 224
(escape from custody) of the IPC at Nalgonda II town police station; Ali
and three others escaped from the custody of the police station on July
21, 1996; Ali was rearrested on January 21, 1997;
* FIR #116/96 under section 379
(theft) of the IPC at Suryapet town police station; Ali and three others
allegedly stole a Yamaha motorcycle on the night of July 2/3, 1996; Ali
was arrested on January 16, 1997;
* FIR #123/96 under section 379
of the IPC at Suryapet town police station; Ali and two others allegedly
stole a Bajaj Chetak scooter on July 12, 1996; Ali was arrested on January
16, 1997;
* FIR #62/96 under section 395 (dacoity)
of the IPC at Bhongir town police station; Ali and four others allegedly
committed a dacoity in a house on June 23, 1996;
* FIR #5/97 under sections 353 (assault
on a public servant) and 307 of the IPC, sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive
Substances Act, and sections 25 and 27 of the Indian Arms Act at Mungode
police station; Ali & one other accused person were found in the possession
of two revolvers on January 14, 1997, and arrested;
* FIR # 207/96 under section 224
of the IPC, sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, and sections
25 and 27 of the Indian Arms Act at Nampally police station in Hyderabad;
Ali and seven others allegedly helped Mirza Fayaz Baig escape from a court
on December 19, 1996;
* FIR #1/2000 under sections 120-B
(criminal conspiracy), 307, and 324 of the Indian Penal Code and sections
3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act at Moghulpura police station
in Hyderabad; Ali and three others allegedly set off a bomb blast at a
hotel in Old Hyderabad on January 3, 2000;
* FIR #44/2000 under sections 4
and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act at the Dabeerpura police station
in Hyderabad; Ali was allegedly found to be in the possession of explosives;
The Andhra Pradesh police say warrants
are pending against Ali in various courts and cases. Moreover, the three
others accused of Pandya's murder also have criminal records, with one
of them having close links with the ISI.
M A Raoof and two of his associates
were booked under FIR #33/2000 at the Saidabad police station in Hyderabad
for possessing explosives. He also figured in a conspiracy case relating
to a series of bomb blasts in theatres in Hyderabad and Metpally in Andhra
Pradesh and Nanded in Maharashtra vide FIR #39/2000 booked by the criminal
investigation department of the Andhra police under sections 120(B) and
153 (provocation to cause riots) of the IPC.
Along with Asghar Ali and others,
Raoof was also allegedly involved in a blast in a hotel, which was registered
under FIR #1/2000 at the Moghulpura police station.
Another of the accused men, M A
Bari, figured with Asghar Ali and five others in FIR #207/96 relating to
Fayaz Baig's escape from court.